Dear Father,

I would like to ask you some questions about the salvation of the soul.

Among the biggest doubts that distress believers is certainly the one related to the salvation of the soul and to the fear of being damned after they appear before the tribunal of Christ.

However, I ask you the reason for this uncertainty considering that a believer who believes in the existence of God and in his goodness, lives honestly, respects others, prays every day, tries not to commit grave sins (not always succeeding), attends Holy Mass, goes to confession several times a month, and thus (hopefully) dies in a state of grace, seems to me to be destined for salvation.

The doubt this kind of (rather common) believer has, seems to me related not so much to  “whether” they will be saved as “how much” purgatory they will have to serve to make reparation for the bad deeds of their life.

(…).
But even assuming that even in heaven time is measured by the clock, why can this time of sorrow (which, however, should also be one of joy at the attainment of the certainty of salvation) be shortened by the suffrages of those left behind on earth, family and friends?

Will those who are not fortunate enough to have left on earth people willing to pray for them and to dedicate masses to them, have worse treatment before God? Can those who die without believing relatives have the foresight to commission religious orders to provide suffrages for their souls after death? Do these suffrages, made in execution of an earthly “commission” and often implying financial aspects, have the same value before God as those made spontaneously, out of love, by the relatives of the deceased?

I thank you and rely on your prayers.

Michael

The priest’s answer

Dear Michael,

1.  Before coming to your final question I would like to say a word about purgatory, which is  not essentially a place of punishment, but rather a place where we can purify ourselves and become worthy to love God as God is worthy to be loved.

This purification comes through suffering, but it is the suffering of not being able to love God as God is worthy to be loved and as one desires because we see ourselves encrusted with so much dross and inclinations that are not perfectly ordered according to God.

2. Having clarified this, I go straight to the final question.

You talk about the souls no one makes suffrages for, because they are completely abandoned.

Some clarifications should be made about that.

Although we talk of abandoned souls or more abandoned souls in Purgatory, in truth, none is completely abandoned.

For the Eucharistic sacrifice that is offered to God every day from one end of the earth to other involves a general fruit of atonement for sins.

It benefits everyone, living and dead, including those we call abandoned.

3. Equally, there are many people who, out of an act of genuine charity, have Masses celebrated for the abandoned or most abandoned souls in Purgatory.

So for a second reason there are not entirely abandoned souls: they are abandoned by their loved ones, by the people who knew them and who perhaps owe them debts of gratitude. But they are not abandoned either by God or by the Church.

4. You talk about people who, because of their financial means, have the ability to have many Masses celebrated in their own suffrage, so these would be at a greater advantage than others.

This is not really the case for two reasons. 

The first, because the offering one gives for the celebration of a suffrage Mass does not obligate God, but pleads with Him.

God takes supplication into account because he loves us and we are his dearest children, but he can allocate the so-called special fruit to people no one prays for, while the one we intend to suffrage is already in heaven or in hell or in purgatory, but in a very special condition whereby-as someone has asserted-he would be purified by seeing that suffrages for him are given to others, by acknowledging and adoring God’s righteous judgments.

5. A few things should also be remembered.

The first, precisely for those who excellently have many Masses celebrated for themselves: in fact, while they provide for their souls in a holy way, they cooperate for the benefit of all, including those who are forgotten by their loved ones. Precisely because every Mass has a general efficacy for the benefit of all living and deceased.

6. The second: the offering handed over for the celebration of a Mass for a deceased person is not a sum of money we pay to exempt them from purgatory, but is a material and personal sacrifice by which one is united more closely to Christ’s sacrifice.

This means that the offering, perhaps a small one, given by a less wealthy person for the celebration of the Mass can have greater efficacy before God than someone who has arranged for himself so many suffrages by commanding many celebrations to various religious institutes.

The poor widow who had put two small coins in the temple treasury, all she had to live on and who was praised by the Lord, should never be forgotten (cf. Luke, 18:1 ff).

7. The third: the assumption that the rich are more advantaged because they can order more Mass celebrations, is not always true because very often they do not think about it at all.

Not for nothing did the Lord say, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?”Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” (Matt, 19:23-26).

8. Of course, there are rich people who can manage their wealth very well and put into practice what the Lord has said: “Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. 

(Luke 12,33-34).

And: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”(Matt, 6,19,21).

There are saints even among the rich.
For them, this is not a ploy contrived to shorten purgatory, but a desire to be perfectly conformed to the heart of Jesus, which is a burning furnace of charity.

The criterion then is not in money, but in the degree of love with which one joins in Christ’s sacrifice of redemption to distribute more of the merits of his passion and death.

I bless you, wish you well and remember you in my prayer.

Father Angelo

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